One evening last week, while I was at home writing a Labor News Story for WNYLaborToday.com, there was a knock on my front door.  It was two women working for Lancaster (N.Y.) Town Board Candidate Karen Healy-Case.  They were going door-to-door in my neighborhood asking for voter support in the upcoming September Primary Election.

As they handed me her palm card, I asked, “Is she a Democrat?” 

“Yes,” they replied, before going into that political spiel about her background and what she wanted to accomplish, if elected. 

As I listened, I began to visually scan the palm card (pictured above) that they’d handed me.  But to my surprise, I could not find the “Union Bug,” the Union Printer’s Logo that usually appears on the bottom of the card to denote it was done by a local Printer’s Union.  When I asked the women where the “bug” was, they looked at me like I was speaking Egyptian.  Once I explained, they told me they “didn’t know what ‘it’ was.” 

Geez, I thought, Democrats not knowing what a “Union Bug” was? 

Let alone not having their political materials printed by a Union Printer?

Well, you know, as Editor-Publisher of Your Regional, On-Line Labor Newspaper, I took the time to educate them on not only what a Union Bug was, but registered my disappointment that a Democrat Candidate seeking the support of Working People and Union Members alike in the Town of Lancaster would not have had her political materials printed by a Union Printer. 

During our conversation, I asked if Healy-Case was related to Ken Case – the former Assistant Erie County District Attorney who’d left the DA’s Office, ran unsuccessfully for the District Attorney’s Office and then was eventually elected as an Erie County Court Judge last year.  The two volunteers said that “yes” indeed, Karen Healy-Case was married to Ken Case. 

Then I thought, while Karen Healy-Case might be running for political office for the first time, I found it inexcusable that her husband - who heavily courted the support of Organized Labor in his unsuccessful run for the DA’s Office and his successful run for Erie County Court Judge - would have chosen not to counsel his wife about the importance of having her political materials printed by a Union Printer – especially when seeking the support of Union Voters. 

Making that connection, I asked the two volunteers to relay my thoughts and comments to Healy-Case herself, who apparently was also going door-to-door somewhere else in my neighborhood, as well as my suggestion that she dump her palm cards and have them re-printed by a Union Printer in Lancaster.  Her volunteers said they would and asked if I wanted to keep the palm card.  I said I did.  I also told them that I wanted to show it to representatives of both the Western New York AFL-CIO Area Labor Federation and the Buffalo AFL-CIO Central Labor Council, who I believe needed to be made aware of Healy-Case’s decision. 

As they left, one of the volunteers asked to shake my hand and thanked me for the “Union Bug” lesson.  But as they headed down the driveway to knock on my neighbor’s door, I kept thinking there just might be something more, so I got on the telephone and called incumbent Lancaster Councilwoman Donna Stempniak, the Labor-endorsed and Democratic Candidate running for Lancaster Town Board.  But Stempniak told me that Healy-Case had been endorsed by the Republican Party and was actually running in the September 13th Democratic Primary against Stempniak and fellow Democrat Mark Aquino.  It seems Healy-Case had been a registered Democrat, but changed her affiliation to Republican after getting on the primary ballot as a Democrat.  And for that matter, I was told by another individual that Healy-Case has – amazingly - changed her party affiliation as many as six times in recent years.

Stempniak, meanwhile, told me that even if Healy-Case loses in the Democratic Primary, she will reappear on the November Ballot as a Republican – facing the winner of the Democratic Primary.  However, should Healy-Case win the Democratic Primary, she would face no other challenger since she already has the Republican endorsement.

Yep, you read me right - a Republican-endorsed and formerly-registered Democrat running in a Democratic Primary and remaining on the November Ballot as a Republican. 

Now, as a Working Person, I have to ask: Is there something wrong with this picture?

While they were very nice women, there was no mention made to me by the two volunteers for Healy-Case who knocked on my door last week that Healy-Case was an endorsed Republican. 

No, they told me she was a Democrat, which is – as one individual I spoke to said – “is technically true.” 

But any Working Person, Union or non, who is a Registered Voter, lives in the Town of Lancaster and who does not take the time to adequately educate themselves on this race would not have known this fact.  They would have thought, and rightfully so, that Healy-Case was a Democrat – and only a Democrat.  And seeing her name on the primary ballot alongside Stempniak and Aquino would have given anyone the impression they had a choice of three individual Democrats, one that would go on to face their Republican opposition in November.

But surprise, surprise – Healy-Case will be the Republican opposition in November.

As a result, there’s a flier (pictured below) being circulated in the Town of Lancaster that asks: Why would we support the Republican Candidates in OUR Democratic Primary?  It goes on to say: Democrats Beware!  There are republican candidates running in our Democratic Primary.  How can you trust your vote with a politician who is not up-front and honest?

It’s a good question to ask these days, especially with Republicans leading the attack on taking away Workers’ Rights and Collective Bargaining - and it makes no difference if they’re the governor of some big State like Wisconsin or running for Town Office in Lancaster, New York.

But what started out as a miscue of not having one’s political materials printed by a Union Printer, grew into something much, much more important for Working People in Lancaster.

There’s a Republican Candidate out there in Democrat’s clothing, hoping you don’t do your homework and buy her line that she’s offering you in terms of leadership, professionalism, dedication and results.  On further review, it would seem her “professionalism” is in doubt.

But this case of Healy-Case’s campaign for Lancaster Town Board is a great example of why Working People not only need to be informed on the candidates they’re considering voting for, but why more Working People and Union Members need to run for Public Office.  If they don’t, this is the kind of mess we’re left with - and in the end we find ourselves embarrassed if we discover we’ve elected a Republican when we supported a Democrat.

In recent weeks, WNYLaborToday.com has reported on three individual Western New York Union Members that have made a personal decision to get involved and have thrown their hat in the ring for the first time: IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) Local 106 President Robert Whitney, who is running for a seat on the Chautauqua County Legislature; Union Firefighter Jason Zona, who is running for a set on the Niagara County Legislature; and IUOE (International Union of Operating Engineers) Local 463 Treasurer Travis Diez, who is running for Town of Lewiston Highway Superintendent. 

Hopefully, more Union Members and Working People will make the decision to do the same.

Having had the personal opportunity to run through what just happened in Lancaster, I believe there needs to be change, but that change needs to be brought about by Working People, including some that have a fire in their bellies and know that if our current state of sad affairs are truly going to turn around, they too must run for Public Office. 

And based on just this instance alone, I – as a Union Member – would want my political action dues money going to support a candidate that I knew was standing up for the rights of all Working People - not one that would accept a Republican endorsement but run as a Democrat knowing that even though she might lose, she’d be back in the race any which way.

Sorry Karen, but it just shouldn’t work that way.

So the lesson to be learned by the Healy-Case Campaign is this: We all need to be educated voters.  We need to ask a question, which may lead to another question and another and another.  Because if we don’t, Working People will wind up electing individuals that we thought were somebody else because we were told so. 

In the end – making those kinds of uneducated decisions will unfortunately work to further erode what Working People have worked so hard to attain over the years, not to mention that we’ll all look like damn fools who for certain will not have the last laugh.